US champion Ryan Trebon showed that he is hot on form in New Jersey this weekend, scoring back to back wins on two very different courses. On Saturday, Trebon was one of the few riders who could power through the long sand pit, which was a major factor in splitting up the field. "If you could ride through the sand pit smooth you could easily put 20 metres on someone," said Trebon. "It was easy to ride but because too many people were running it, by the second lap no lines formed, it was all chopped up. I ended up keeping my momentum through the bend, half way and then got off and ran the last part of it."

Trebon and his Kona-YourKey team-mate Barry Wicks ganged up on Leer/Cyclocrossworld team-mates Tim Johnson and Jeremy Powers, who were third and fourth on the day. "The two of us working together was the big advantage today," said Trebon. "When the course double backed on itself we could see where the chasers were. We were riding hard enough to keep the gap stabilized, not just flat out. I knew Tim was riding by himself and that he'd be taking risks out there."

A few set backs prevented Johnson from making contact with the Kona pair, forcing him to ride over two thirds of the circuit alone. "I crashed in the Selle Italia twisty section when I was only four or five seconds off the back of Barry and Ryan," said Johnson, who then endured two bike changes due to a slipped seat post and then a broken cleat. "It's that kind of crash that I usually have when I try to put the power down to early on an off camber corner."

Sunday's race was much different after a light snow and showers turned the more technical lay-out into a slick crash-fest that sent riders running to the pits for clean machines. Trebon's team-mate Wicks was the first to go down, leaving Trebon alone to battle against Johnson, Powers and mountain bikers Geoff Kabush and Todd Wells.

Trebon was able to choose his trips to the pits wisely, and finished 26 seconds ahead of Johnson and Powers, but not without a fight from Johnson, who struggled to hold onto the series lead. "Even though I lost the USGP lead, I was very impressed with how Ryan was racing today," said Johnson, a rider acclaimed for his technical skill over snow and rain.

Georgia Gould (Luna) helped herself to the top spot on the podium and claimed the prestigious series lead by winning both rounds of the New Jersey Mercer Cup. Gould ran away from her stiff competition through the ankle deep sand pit on Saturday, holding a lead of over 30 second from second placed Lyne Bessette (Cyclocrossworld) and an additional 10 seconds over team-mate Katrina Nash (Luna).

"Its not often we get such a long sand pit but I liked it because the run wasn't very long," said the new USGP leader. "I tried to stay on the gas the whole time and not let up at all because it was really hard out there, flat a lot of wind and not much recovery."

Gould (Luna) claimed her second consecutive victory on Sunday, winning by some 20 seconds over former Canadian national champion Lyne Bessette (Cyclocrossworld) and Alison Sydor (Rocky Mountain).

"It wouldn't appear that I was feeling so good at the beginning of the race because I was riding like a moron," said Georgia, referring to her double crash through the Selle Italia Swirl on lap two. "But I'm pretty good on the straight open stuff and on the corners too so it was a nice race for me."